


right now (always, always)

by from



Series: three hundred words and other stories [6]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 04:08:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13673970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/from/pseuds/from
Summary: LA, February 2018. Niall runs.





	right now (always, always)

**Author's Note:**

> a big thanks to the mods for holding the fest and to everyone who kept me going recently ♥

Niall pushes, one foot in front of the other, the ground rising too fast now just before the ridge. Each breath feels like he’s getting harsh fistfuls of sun at the back of his throat. 

No more talking. No thinking. His worries disappearing one by one. The tour in spring. The nutritional dissection of his breakfast. The sleep he didn’t have. 

Harry leaving, the nape of his neck a patchwork red. Their sweet fucking in Niall’s bed, making each other smile even when they hurt. 

Harry asking if he could be over in ten, if Niall was alone, if Niall didn’t mind him calling. 

He looks down at his feet, focuses on the whites of his socks flashing silver in the light, until the ground eases off, the climb behind him. 

Here’s the ridge, the blue sky wide open over the city of dreams; here’s him, living in the fire of his own.

He has got far enough away, hasn’t he, but the sun still burns.

‘Valentine’s Day, LA!’ the radio warbles on the ride home. ‘Are you feeling the love?’

Basil grunts in his seat. 

Niall shrugs.

‘Don’t tell me,’ Basil says, catching him. ‘You feeling the love, Niall?’

‘What do you think?’ 

‘I think, last night, you had someone in the house you didn’t want any of us to see.’

‘Nothing you haven’t—’ Niall stops himself, glancing over.

Too late.

‘Niall,’ is all Basil says.

But Niall remembers that tight look, those times on the job when he and Harry got sloppy with needing each other. 

He breathes out, with almost no regret, ‘I’m not that kid anymore.’

‘I know.’

It's a caution. 

Niall stares ahead, determined. He had a dream once, and he’d rather burn again for another hour, another minute, than not have it at all.

~


End file.
